Cotton-press



(No Model.) z'sneets-sheet 2.

C. BANISTER.

GOTTON'PRBSS, Y No. 532,749. l Patented Jan. 22, 1895.

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5T NITED,

PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES BANISTER, or wAco, TEXAS.

COTTON-PRESS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of 'Lettesrateut No. samadatd January22,1895. Appnauon medium. 15,1394. Senn 110.514.632. (No man.)

To all whom it may concern: Y

Be it known that I, CHARLES BANISTER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Waco, in the countyof McLennan and State of Texas, haveinvented certainl new and useful Improvements in Cotton-Presses; and Idohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit appertains'to make and use the same.

My invention relates to certain newand useful improvements in cottonpresses, and is designed to produce tightly wound bales from the cottonbats formed upon the condenser, and fed into the press. To this end Ihave devised the construction and arrangement of parts illustrated inthe-accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1 represents a side elevationofa cotton press embodying my improvements. Fig;

2 represents an end elevation thereof. Fig.^`3

represents a section on the line 3-3 of Fig. l, showing the location ofthe parts at the termination of the bale-forming operation. Fig. 4represents a like View at the beginning of the operation, and shows alsoa modified construction of the press rollers. Fig. 5 represents adetached side elevation of 'one of the 'slotted plates through which theupper roller shaft passes. y

Similar letters ofreference indicate similar parts throughout theseveral views. l

The salient or main characteristic feature of my improvement is itscapacity not only to compress the bale by the weight applied throughtheupper roller and to wind it by the jointaction of the threerollers,but,by graduating the relative speed of the rollers with whichthe bat successively comes in contact,

to thereby cause each roller to more tightly lwind the'bat as the baleis being formed,

In thedrawin gs, A indicates vthe framework of the press, which may bemounted as usual npon the gin floor B above the basement C. Withinthesidemembers of the frame are mounted, in stationary bearings, therollers D, D constituting the roller'gbed and above them in adjustablebearings the roller D2, `thesefthree rollers constituting, in mypreferred form, the .bale-making elements, although, for reasonshereinafter set forth I do notrestrict myself tothe use ofthreerollers.v

The rollers may, as shown in Fig. 4, have a comparativelysmoothperiphery, although 1n any event they should not be too smooth to lackthe necessary friction to permit them to carry the bat forward from oneto the other.

In practice, however, to insure this result, I corrugate the rollerslongitudinally, as lllus- Qtrated in Figs. 1 to 3, or in lieu thereof,or in addition thereto, I provide the shell offthe` rollers withperforations o. extending 1nto the open interior. These perforationsengage ,with small projecting fibers of the bat pressed the pressbetweenthe roller D and an idle D' D2 are revolved by sprocket chaingb whoselinks engage the teeth o'f cogs c, c', c2, fixed upon the` ends of theroller shafts, said chains passing over the slack take-up idlers G.These idlers Gare mounted upon an arbor H, which ,is thus suspended fromthe chains with capacity for vertical movement between guides d. Uponthe shaft H are hung suitable Weights as e, both for the purpose ofkeeping the chains taut and for applying additional Weight tothe upperroller D2 so as to render its compressive action the more eectual.

It will be noted that by reason of the difference in the number of gearteethv on the several rollers, the roller D2 receives a faster rotationthan the roller D', and that the roller' D receives a fasterrotationthan the roller D. It will be seen that by this arrangement theroller D serves to more effectually strip the bat from the roller D, andat the same `time to wind or Wrap the bat more tightly,

and, inlike manner, the rollerD2 more effectually strips the batfrom theroller D. and still further increases the tightness of wind- The rollersD.

4denser bat and carries it down so as to enter vroller F, journaledloosely in oblique or inf I clined bearings in the frame.

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ing of the bale.V So far as I am aware it is broadly new to thus run anytwo rolls acting upon the same bat at different speeds for the purposeof more tightly winding the bale, and I desire therefore to beunderstood as claiming the feature broadly wherever it is used in cottonpresses for such purpose, whether the number of rollers acting upon thebat be two or more than two. The power for actuating the rollers may besupplied to any of themin any suitable manner, as for instance by meansof the belt pulley I.

The upper roller D2 is passed `at its opposite 'ends through twovertically movable heads L, having slots Z which incline downwardly fromthe vertical and correspond in that respect with similar slots Z2 in theframe. The purpose of this inclination is to carry the roller D2, whenin its lowered position, over toward the roller D as indicated in Fig.it, thereby preventing the bat from being carried out of the press bythe roller D', and also furnishing the necessary enlargement of thethroat of the press on the opposite side.

On entering the press the bat, passing between the idler roller G andthe pressure roller D, is carried into contact with the roller D,whichthereupon,as shown in Fig.4brings it into contact with the roller D2.The effect is that the forward edge of the bat is folded, as shown, andsuch folded edge serves as a center upon which the outer layers of thebale are subsequently wound, a core being thereby wholly dispensed with.As the operation continues, the increasing diameter of the bale causesthe upper roller D2 to rise, and while the bale is being formed itbecomes the more tightly wound through the action of the successivelyfaster rollers D and D2 until the operation is completed and the balehas reached its desired diameter. During the formation of the bale itsends rest against the heads L, and as the roller D2 rises it carries theheads up with it; the downward projec-` tion l of the heads, however,serving still as surfaces of abutment for the ends of the bale. Vhen thebale is completed it becomes necessary to raise the upper roller inorder to remove the bale. This may be effected in a number of ways, forinstance by throwing into gear with the pinion F', on the power shaft, agear wheel F2 upon a shaft F3 which carries the winding drums m, saidshaft being mounted in bearings, one of which m is movable. From thewinding drums, cords or chains m3 pass over the pulleys n', and thenceconnect with the hangers 'n2 for the upper roller shaft. When thewinding drum shaft is thus thrown into engagement, the cords n.2 arewound on the drums and the roller D2 thereby elevated so that the balemay be removed. After the removal of the bale, the upper roller ispermitted to return to its original positionby unclutching the windingdrum shaft. To graduate the velocity of descent, I may employ a strapbrake s, passing from the clutch lever about a brake pulley, asindicated in Fig. 2; or a more gradual descent may be secured, and onethat can be readily regulated, by providing at the summit of the press,a pair of cylinders M fitted with pistons fu, connected by dependingrods with loose collars w upon the shaft of the roller D2. The cylindersare connected at top and bottom by pipes w', to2, having a by-pass pipew2 provided with a valve w", and water is supplied to the entire systemof pipes and cylinders from a tank orother source of supply, as throughthe pipe U15, having a valve w which is only opened to supply additionalwater when any part of the original supply has been lost by leakage` orevaporation. During the rising of the roller D2, the pistons t arecarried upward, and the water passes from the upper ends of thecylinders and along the pipe w and thence downward through the pipe wiand' pipe 102 into the lower ends of the cylinders, so that when theroller D2 is in its upper position the pistons are at the tops of thecylinders. Now, to graduate the descent of the roller D2, I par tiallyclose the valve tu" thereby restricting the opening through which thewater must be forced by the descent of the roller, it being evident thatthe more the valve is closed the slower' will be the downward movement.

It is, of course, evident that both the rais ing and lowering of theroller D2 could be effected by a hydraulic or otherV pump suitablyconnected to the cylinders, but the means proposed by me are availablein cases where it would not be practicable or economical to employ sucha pump.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is

l. A cotton press provided with a plurality of rollers, one receivingthe bat from the other, and acting upon different parts of the bale asit is being formed, and means for rotating the second roller faster thanthe first; substann tially as described.

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2. A cotton press, provided with an upper roller, lower rollers, one ofsaid lower rollers receiving the bat from the other, and acting upondifferent parts of the bale as it is being formed, and means forrotating the second of said lower rollers at a greater rate of speedthan the irst, and the upper roller at a greater rate of speed than thesecond of the lower rollers; substantially as described.

3. A cotton press, provided with lower roll ers located at substantiallythe same height, one of said rollers arranged to receive the bat fromthe other, and adapted to act upon a different part of the bale as it isbeing formed and an upwardly movable roller located above the lowerrollers and adapted to act upon the upper part of the bale, and meansfor rotating combination with a bed composed of a plurality of rollers,and means for rotating the upper roller at a greater vs peed than thatof the rollers composing the bed; substantially as described.

' 5. A cotton press comprising three rollers,

two of them being at substantially the same height, and the third beinglocated above them and being upwardly movable, gears of a suc# cessivelydecreasing number of teeth ou the respective rollers, a sprocket chainengaging the gears, an idler over which said chain travels, and a weightupon the idler; substantially as described.

6. A cotton press, having two lower rollers, an upper movable roller,and heads at the ends of the rollers covering the space between saidrollers, said heads having openings through which the shaft of the upperroller passes, and being adapted to move with the upper roller;substantially as described. y

-7. A cotton press, having lower rollers, an upper movable rollerbetween which and the lower rollers the material is fed and the baleformed, heads covering the space between the upper and lower rollers atthe ends, and means for guiding said upper roller in its verticalmovement obliquely, so that in its lower position it will rest in suchproximity to the second of said lower rollers as not to permit thefurther passage of thev material; substantially as described.

8. A cotton press, having lower rollers, an upper movable roller betweenwhich and the lower rollers the material is fed and the bale formed, andmeans for guiding said upper roller in its vertical movement obliquely,so that in its lower position it will rest in such proximity to thesecond of said lower rollers as not to permit the further passage of thematerial; substantially as described.

9. A cotton press, comprising lower rollers, and an upper roller, awinding shaft, a clutch for throwing said shaft into engagement with thepower mechanism of the press, and connections from the winding shaft tothe upper V roller for raising the latter when the clutch is thrown intoengagement; substantially as described.

lO. A cotton press, comprising lower rollers, landan upper roller, awinding'shaft, a clutch for throwing said shaft into engagement with thepower mechanism of the press, connectionsl from the winding shaft to theupper roller for raising the latter when the clutch is thrown intoengagement, and means for graduating `the subsequent descent of theupper roller when the clutch is disengaged; substantially as described.

1l. In a cotton press, the combination with the upper roller, of meansfor graduating its 13. Acotton press provided with bale-form-l` A I ingrollers having corrugated and perforated peripheries; substantially asdescribed.

14. A cotton press, having two lower rollers, an upper movable roller,and heads at the ends of the rollers covering the space between saidrollers, said heads having slots through which the shaft of the upperroller passes, whereby the saidv roller moves inde;- pendently of theheads until its shaft reaches the end of the slots when its continuedmovement carries the heads with it; substantially as described. l

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

' CHARLES BANISTER.

*.Witnesses:

J. A. GoLDsBoRoUGH, JOHN O. PENNIE.

